Methods and Systems for Contact Importing Using a Mobile Device

ABSTRACT

Techniques to allow a social networking system to import contact information from an external system. In one embodiment, a QR code is provided to a non-mobile computing device to allow a log in to an external system by a user using a mobile computing device. Information from the external system is received after authentication of the user with the external system. The information includes address book information of the user. The address book information includes contact information maintained by the external system. Invitations are provided to a selection of the new contacts to join the social network of the user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to a social networking system and, inparticular, contact information management.

BACKGROUND

Social networking websites provide a dynamic environment in whichmembers can connect to and communicate with other members. Thesewebsites may commonly provide online mechanisms allowing members tointeract within their preexisting social networks, as well as create newsocial networks. Members may include any individual or entity, such asan organization or business. Among other attributes, social networkingwebsites allow members to effectively and efficiently communicaterelevant information to their social networks.

A member of a social network may highlight or share personalinformation, news stories, relationship activities, music, and any othercontent of interest to areas of the website dedicated to the member.Other members of the social network may access the shared content bybrowsing member profiles or performing dedicated searches. Upon accessto and consideration of the content, the other members may react bytaking one or more responsive actions, such as providing an opinionabout the content, or other feedback. The ability of members to interactin this manner fosters communications among them and helps to realizethe goals of social networking websites.

The experience of a user of a social networking website may be enhancedby the addition of relatives, friends, colleagues, and other contacts toher social network, Contact information for the contacts of the user maybe distributed over many disparate systems and applications. Whendistributed in this manner, the management of contact information mayimpede the ability of the user to communicate with the contacts and topresent invitations for the contacts to join the social network of theuser. As a result, optimal growth of the social network of the user maybe compromised.

SUMMARY

To allow a social networking system to import contact information froman external system, embodiments of the invention include systems,methods, and computer readable media to provide a reference to anon-mobile computing device to allow a log in to an external system by auser using a mobile computing device. Information from the externalsystem is received after authentication of the user with the externalsystem.

In an embodiment, the computer system is a social networking system.

In an embodiment, the reference includes a QR code associated with theuser.

In an embodiment, an indication is provided for the user to providecredentials for the log in. The log in by the user includes provision ofa PIN by the user. The authentication is based on an identifierassociated with the mobile computing device.

In an embodiment, a notice is provided for the user to perform the login with the mobile computing device. A progress bar is provided to guidethe user through a sequence associated with contact importing.

In an embodiment, the information includes address book information ofthe user. The address book information includes contact informationmaintained by the external system. Contact information maintained by thecomputer system is retrieved. The contact information maintained by theexternal system and the contact information maintained by the computersystem are synchronized. New contact information including new contactsis identified based on the synchronizing. The new contact information ismaintained in the computer system.

In an embodiment, a selection of the new contacts to be added to asocial network of the user is requested. Invitations to join the socialnetwork of the user are provided to the selection of the new contacts.

In an embodiment, the external system includes a wireless serviceprovider.

In an embodiment, the log in by the user to the external system using amobile computing device requires fewer credentials than a log in by theuser to the external system using the non-mobile computing device.

Many other features and embodiments of the invention will be apparentfrom the accompanying drawings and from the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network diagram of a system for contact importing with asocial networking system in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a system of interactionbetween an external system and a contact importing module of the socialnetworking system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an example process for importing contact information from awireless service provider to the social networking system in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is an example process for providing invitations to new contactsto join the social network of a user in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIGS. 5A-5G illustrate example notices and functionality that may beprovided for a user to import contacts from an external system inaccordance with embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram of a computer system in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only, wherein the figures use like referencenumerals to identify like elements. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated in the figures may be employedwithout departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Social Networking System—General Introduction

FIG. 1 is a network diagram of a system 100 for contact importing in asocial networking system 130 in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. The system 100 includes one or more user devices 110, one ormore external systems 120, the social networking system 130, and anetwork 150. For purposes of illustration, the embodiment of the system100, shown by FIG. 1, includes a single external system 120 and a singleuser device 110. However, in other embodiments, the system 100 mayinclude more user devices 110 and/or more external systems 120. Incertain embodiments, the social networking system 130 is operated by asocial network provider, whereas the external systems 120 are separatefrom the social networking system 130 in that they may be operated bydifferent entities. In various embodiments, however, the socialnetworking system 130 and the external systems 120 operate inconjunction to provide social networking services to users (or members)of the social networking system 130. In this sense, the socialnetworking system 130 provides a platform or backbone, which othersystems, such as external systems 120, may use to provide socialnetworking services and functionalities to users across the Internet.

The user device 110 comprises one or more computing devices that canreceive input from a user and transmit and receive data via the network150. In one embodiment, the user device 110 is a conventional computersystem executing, for example, a Microsoft Windows compatible operatingsystem (OS), Apple OS X, and/or a Linux distribution. In anotherembodiment, the user device 110 can be a device having computerfunctionality, such as a smart-phone, a tablet, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, etc. The user device 110 isconfigured to communicate via the network 150. The user device 110 canexecute an application, for example, a browser application that allows auser of the user device 110 to interact with the social networkingsystem 130. In another embodiment, the user device 110 interacts withthe social networking system 130 through an application programminginterface (API) provided by the native operating system of the userdevice 110, such as iOS and ANDROID. The user device 110 is configuredto communicate with the external system 120 and the social networkingsystem 130 via the network 150, which may comprise any combination oflocal area and/or wide area networks, using wired and/or wirelesscommunication systems.

In one embodiment, the network 150 uses standard communicationstechnologies and protocols. Thus, the network 150 can include linksusing technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperabilityfor microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, CDMA, GSM, LTE, digital subscriberline (DSL), etc. Similarly, the networking protocols used on the network150 can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol(UDP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transferprotocol (SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and the like. The dataexchanged over the network 150 can be represented using technologiesand/or formats including hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensiblemarkup language (XML). In addition, all or some links can be encryptedusing conventional encryption technologies such as secure sockets layer(SSL), transport layer security (TLS), and Internet Protocol security(IPsec).

In one embodiment, the user device 110 may display content from theexternal system 120 and/or from the social networking system 130 byprocessing a markup language document 114 received from the externalsystem 120 and from the social networking system 130 using a browserapplication 112. The markup language document 114 identifies content andone or more instructions describing formatting or presentation of thecontent. By executing the instructions included in the markup languagedocument 114, the browser application 112 displays the identifiedcontent using the format or presentation described by the markuplanguage document 114. For example, the markup language document 114includes instructions for generating and displaying a web page havingmultiple frames that include text and/or image data retrieved from theexternal system 120 and the social networking system 130. In variousembodiments, the markup language document 114 comprises a data fileincluding extensible markup language (XML) data, extensible hypertextmarkup language (XHTML) data, or other markup language data.Additionally, the markup language document 114 may include JavaScriptObject Notation (JSON) data, JSON with padding (JSONP), and JavaScriptdata to facilitate data-interchange between the external system 120 andthe user device 110. The browser application 112 on the user device 110may use a JavaScript compiler to decode the markup language document114.

The markup language document 114 may also include, or link to,applications or application frameworks such as FLASH™ or Unity™applications, the SilverLight™ application framework, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device 110 also includes one or more cookies116 including data indicating whether a user of the user device 110 islogged into the social networking system 130, which may enablecustomization of the data communicated from the social networking system130 to the user device 110.

The external system 120 includes one or more web servers that includeone or more web pages 122 a, 122 b, which are communicated to the userdevice 110 using the network 150. The external system 120 is separatefrom the social networking system 130. For example, the external system120 is associated with a first domain, while the social networkingsystem 130 is associated with a separate social networking domain. Webpages 122 a, 122 b, included in the external system 120, comprise markuplanguage documents 114 identifying content and including instructionsspecifying formatting or presentation of the identified content.

The social networking system 130 includes one or more computing devicesfor a social network, including a plurality of users, and providingusers of the social network with the ability to communicate and interactwith other users of the social network. In some instances, the socialnetwork can be represented by a graph, i.e., a data structure includingedges and nodes. Other data structures can also be used to represent thesocial network, including but not limited to databases, objects,classes, meta elements, files, or any other data structure.

Users may join the social networking system 130 and then add connectionsto any number of other users of the social networking system 130 to whomthey desire to be connected. As used herein, the term “friend” refers toany other user of the social networking system 130 to whom a user hasformed a connection, association, or relationship via the socialnetworking system 130. For example, in an embodiment, if users in thesocial networking system 130 are represented as nodes in the socialgraph, the term “friend” can refer to an edge formed between anddirectly connecting two user nodes.

Connections may be added explicitly by a user or may be automaticallycreated by the social networking system 130 based on commoncharacteristics of the users (e.g., users who are alumni of the sameeducational institution). For example, a first user specifically selectsa particular other user to be a friend. Connections in the socialnetworking system 130 are usually in both directions, but need not be,so the terms “user” and “friend” depend on the frame of reference.Connections between users of the social networking system 130 areusually bilateral (“two-way”), or “mutual,” but connections may also beunilateral, or “one-way.” For example, if Bob and Joe are both users ofthe social networking system 130 and connected to each other, Bob andJoe are each other's connections. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes toconnect to Joe to view data communicated to the social networking system130 by Joe, but Joe does not wish to form a mutual connection, aunilateral connection may be established. The connection between usersmay be a direct connection; however, some embodiments of the socialnetworking system 130 allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections or degrees of separation.

In addition to establishing and maintaining connections between usersand allowing interactions between users, the social networking system130 provides users with the ability to take actions on various types ofitems supported by the social networking system 130. These items mayinclude groups or networks (i.e., social networks of people, entities,and concepts) to which users of the social networking system 130 maybelong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested,computer-based applications that a user may use via the socialnetworking system 130, transactions that allow users to buy or sellitems via services provided by or through the social networking system130, and interactions with advertisements that a user may perform on oroff the social networking system 130. These are just a few examples ofthe items upon which a user may act on the social networking system 130,and many others are possible. A user may interact with anything that iscapable of being represented in the social networking system 130 or inthe external system 120, separate from the social networking system 130,or coupled to the social networking system 130 via the network 150.

The social networking system 130 is also capable of linking a variety ofentities. For example, the social networking system 130 enables users tointeract with each other as well as external systems 120 or otherentities through an API, a web service, or other communication channels.The social networking system 130 generates and maintains the “socialgraph” comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality ofedges. Each node in the social graph may represent an entity that canact on another node and/or that can be acted on by another node. Thesocial graph may include various types of nodes. Examples of types ofnodes include users, non-person entities, content items, web pages,groups, activities, messages, concepts, and any other things that can berepresented by an object in the social networking system 130. An edgebetween two nodes in the social graph may represent a particular kind ofconnection, or association, between the two nodes, which may result fromnode relationships or from an action that was performed by one of thenodes on the other node. In some cases, the edges between nodes can beweighted. The weight of an edge can represent an attribute associatedwith the edge, such as a strength of the connection or associationbetween nodes. Different types of edges can be provided with differentweights. For example, an edge created when one user “likes” another usermay be given one weight, while an edge created when a user befriendsanother user may be given a different weight.

As an example, when a first user identifies a second user as a friend,an edge in the social graph is generated connecting a node representingthe first user and a second node representing the second user. Asvarious nodes relate or interact with each other, the social networkingsystem 130 modifies edges connecting the various nodes to reflect therelationships and interactions.

The social networking system 130 also includes user-generated content,which enhances a user's interactions with the social networking system130. User-generated content may include anything a user can add, upload,send, or “post” to the social networking system 130. For example, a usercommunicates posts to the social networking system 130 from a userdevice 110. Posts may include data such as status updates or othertextual data, location information, images such as photos, videos,links, music or other similar data and/or media. Content may also beadded to the social networking system 130 by a third-party. Content“items” are represented as objects in the social networking system 130.In this way, users of the social networking system 130 are encouraged tocommunicate with each other by posting text and content items of varioustypes of media through various communication channels. Suchcommunication increases the interaction of users with each other andincreases the frequency with which users interact with the socialnetworking system 130.

The social networking system 130 includes a web server 132, an APIrequest server 134, a user profile store 136, a connection store 138, anaction logger 140, an activity log 142, an authorization server 144, anda contact importing module 148. In an embodiment of the invention, thesocial networking system 130 may include additional, fewer, or differentcomponents for various applications. Other components, such as networkinterfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers,management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shownso as to not obscure the details of the system.

The user profile store 136 maintains information about user accounts,including biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies orpreferences, location, and the like that has been declared by users orinferred by the social networking system 130. This information is storedin the user profile store 136 such that each user is uniquelyidentified. The social networking system 130 also stores data describingone or more connections between different users in the connection store138. The connection information may indicate users who have similar orcommon work experience, group memberships, hobbies, or educationalhistory. Additionally, the social networking system 130 includesuser-defined connections between different users, allowing users tospecify their relationships with other users. For example, user-definedconnections allow users to generate relationships with other users thatparallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends,co-workers, partners, and so forth. Users may select from predefinedtypes of connections, or define their own connection types as needed.Connections with other nodes in the social networking system 130, suchas non-person entities, buckets, cluster centers, images, interests,pages, external systems, concepts, and the like are also stored in theconnection store 138.

The social networking system 130 maintains data about objects with whicha user may interact. To maintain this data, the user profile store 136and the connection store 138 store instances of the corresponding typeof objects maintained by the social networking system 130. Each objecttype has information fields that are suitable for storing informationappropriate to the type of object. For example, the user profile store136 contains data structures with fields suitable for describing auser's account and information related to a user's account. When a newobject of a particular type is created, the social networking system 130initializes a new data structure of the corresponding type, assigns aunique object identifier to it, and begins to add data to the object asneeded. This might occur, for example, when a user becomes a user of thesocial networking system 130, the social networking system 130 generatesa new instance of a user profile in the user profile store 136, assignsa unique identifier to the user account, and begins to populate thefields of the user account with information provided by the user.

The connection store 138 includes data structures suitable fordescribing a user's connections to other users, connections to externalsystems 120 or connections to other entities. The connection store 138may also associate a connection type with a user's connections, whichmay be used in conjunction with the user's privacy setting to regulateaccess to information about the user. In an embodiment of the invention,the user profile store 136 and the connection store 138 may beimplemented as a federated database.

Data stored in the connection store 138, the user profile store 136, andthe activity log 142 enables the social networking system 130 togenerate the social graph that uses nodes to identify various objectsand edges connecting nodes to identify relationships between differentobjects. For example, if a first user establishes a connection with asecond user in the social networking system 130, user accounts of thefirst user and the second user from the user profile store 136 may actas nodes in the social graph. The connection between the first user andthe second user stored by the connection store 138 is an edge betweenthe nodes associated with the first user and the second user. Continuingthis example, the second user may then send the first user a messagewithin the social networking system 130. The action of sending themessage, which may be stored, is another edge between the two nodes inthe social graph representing the first user and the second user.Additionally, the message itself may be identified and included in thesocial graph as another node connected to the nodes representing thefirst user and the second user.

In another example, a first user may tag a second user in an image thatis maintained by the social networking system 130 (or, alternatively, inan image maintained by another system outside of the social networkingsystem 130). The image may itself be represented as a node in the socialnetworking system 130. This tagging action may create edges between thefirst user and the second user as well as create an edge between each ofthe users and the image, which is also a node in the social graph. Inyet another example, if a user confirms attending an event, the user andthe event are nodes obtained from the user profile store 136, where theattendance of the event is an edge between the nodes that may beretrieved from the activity log 142. By generating and maintaining thesocial graph, the social networking system 130 includes data describingmany different types of objects and the interactions and connectionsamong those objects, providing a rich source of socially relevantinformation.

The web server 132 links the social networking system 130 to one or moreuser devices 110 and/or one or more external systems 120 via the network150. The web server 132 serves web pages, as well as other web-relatedcontent, such as Java, JavaScript, Flash, XML, and so forth. The webserver 132 may include a mail server or other messaging functionalityfor receiving and routing messages between the social networking system130 and one or more user devices 110. The messages can be instantmessages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or anyother suitable messaging format.

The API request server 134 allows one or more external systems 120 anduser devices 110 to call access information from the social networkingsystem 130 by calling one or more API functions. The API request server134 may also allow external systems 120 to send information to thesocial networking system 130 by calling APIs. The external system 120,in one embodiment, sends an API request to the social networking system130 via the network 150, and the API request server 134 receives the APIrequest. The API request server 134 processes the request by calling anAPI associated with the API request to generate an appropriate response,which the API request server 134 communicates to the external system 120via the network 150. For example, responsive to an API request, the APIrequest server 134 collects data associated with a user, such as theuser's connections that have logged into the external system 120, andcommunicates the collected data to the external system 120. In anotherembodiment, the user device 110 communicates with the social networkingsystem 130 via APIs in the same manner as external systems 120.

The action logger 140 is capable of receiving communications from theweb server 132 about user actions on and/or off the social networkingsystem 130. The action logger 140 populates the activity log 142 withinformation about user actions, enabling the social networking system130 to discover various actions taken by its users within the socialnetworking system 130 and outside of the social networking system 130.Any action that a particular user takes with respect to another node onthe social networking system 130 may be associated with each user'saccount, through information maintained in the activity log 142 or in asimilar database or other data repository. Examples of actions taken bya user within the social networking system 130 that are identified andstored may include, for example, adding a connection to another user,sending a message to another user, reading a message from another user,viewing content associated with another user, attending an event postedby another user, posting an image, attempting to post an image, or otheractions interacting with another user or another object. When a usertakes an action within the social networking system 130, the action isrecorded in the activity log 142. In one embodiment, the socialnetworking system 130 maintains the activity log 142 as a database ofentries. When an action is taken within the social networking system130, an entry for the action is added to the activity log 142. Theactivity log 142 may be referred to as an action log.

Additionally, user actions may be associated with concepts and actionsthat occur within an entity outside of the social networking system 130,such as an external system 120 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 130. For example, the action logger 140 may receivedata describing a user's interaction with an external system 120 fromthe web server 132. In this example, the external system 120 reports auser's interaction according to structured actions and objects in thesocial graph.

Other examples of actions where a user interacts with an external system120 include a user expressing an interest in an external system 120 oranother entity, a user posting a comment to the social networking system130 that discusses an external system 120 or a web page 122 a within theexternal system 120, a user posting to the social networking system 130a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other identifier associated with anexternal system 120, a user attending an event associated with anexternal system 120, or any other action by a user that is related to anexternal system 120. Thus, the activity log 142 may include actionsdescribing interactions between a user of the social networking system130 and an external system 120 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 130.

The authorization server 144 enforces one or more privacy settings ofthe users of the social networking system 130. A privacy setting of auser determines how particular information associated with a user can beshared. The privacy setting comprises the specification of particularinformation associated with a user and the specification of the entityor entities with whom the information can be shared. Examples ofentities with which information can be shared may include other users,applications, external systems 120, or any entity that can potentiallyaccess the information. The information that can be shared by a usercomprises user account information, such as profile photos, phonenumbers associated with the user, user's connections, actions taken bythe user such as adding a connection, changing user profile information,and the like.

The privacy setting specification may be provided at different levels ofgranularity. For example, the privacy setting may identify specificinformation to be shared with other users; the privacy settingidentifies a work phone number or a specific set of related information,such as, personal information including profile photo, home phonenumber, and status. Alternatively, the privacy setting may apply to allthe information associated with the user. The specification of the setof entities that can access particular information can also be specifiedat various levels of granularity. Various sets of entities with whichinformation can be shared may include, for example, all friends of theuser, all friends of friends, all applications, or all external systems120. One embodiment allows the specification of the set of entities tocomprise an enumeration of entities. For example, the user may provide alist of external systems 120 that are allowed to access certaininformation. Another embodiment allows the specification to comprise aset of entities along with exceptions that are not allowed to access theinformation. For example, a user may allow all external systems 120 toaccess the user's work information, but specify a list of externalsystems 120 that are not allowed to access the work information. Certainembodiments call the list of exceptions that are not allowed to accesscertain information a “block list”. External systems 120 belonging to ablock list specified by a user are blocked from accessing theinformation specified in the privacy setting. Various combinations ofgranularity of specification of information, and granularity ofspecification of entities, with which information is shared arepossible. For example, all personal information may be shared withfriends whereas all work information may be shared with friends offriends.

The authorization server 144 contains logic to determine if certaininformation associated with a user can be accessed by a user's friends,external systems 120, and/or other applications and entities. Theexternal system 120 may need authorization from the authorization server144 to access the user's more private and sensitive information, such asthe user's work phone number. Based on the user's privacy settings, theauthorization server 144 determines if another user, the external system120, an application, or another entity is allowed to access informationassociated with the user, including information about actions taken bythe user.

The contact importing module 148 contains logic to allow a user of thesocial networking system 130 to import contacts from an address bookseparate from the social networking system 130. The address book may bea record of contacts of the user that are maintained by a wirelessservice provider with which the user may have a mobile phone account.The contact importing module 148 may cause a reference, such as a QRcode, to be provided for a user that allows the user to log in to heraccount with the wireless service provider using the mobile phone. Uponauthentication of the user and receipt of permission of the user,contact information maintained by the wireless service provider may beprovided to the social networking system 130. The contact importingmodule 148 may synchronize the contact information with contactinformation already maintained by the social networking system 130 toidentify new contacts. The contact importing module 148 may providerequests to selected new contacts to be added to the social network ofthe user, as described in more detail below.

Contact Importing

The social networking system 130 may maintain some contact informationof a user. However, the entire contact information of the user may bemaintained over a variety of systems including but not limited to thesocial networking system 130. The systems may involve various softwareapplications that provide contact information storage and managementcapabilities, such as email applications, calendar applications,personal productivity applications, and dedicated contact managementsoftware. For example, the user may store and manage some contactinformation in a software application installed on a desktop computer.As another example, some contact information may be stored and managedby servers that provide the user access to a software application in theform of services. As yet another example, the user may store and managesome contact information with a software application installed on amobile computing device. The ability to import and synchronize contactinformation distributed over various systems may pose many advantagesfor the user. Among them, the user may identify new contacts from thecontact information who may be candidates for addition to the socialnetwork of the user with the social networking system 130.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system to import contact information froma wireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. The user may use adesktop computer (or other non-mobile computing device) 220 tocommunicate with the social networking system 130 to import contactsfrom an external system, such as a wireless service provider 240, to thesocial networking system 130. The wireless service provider 240 mayprovide voice and data services to a mobile phone 230 of the user. Themobile phone 230 may have installed a scanner that can read QR codes. Inan embodiment, while QR codes are discussed herein, any suitable code(e.g., matrix barcode, n-dimensional barcode, two-dimensional code, UPCbarcode, etc.) or other type of reference may be used in addition or asan alternative to QR codes. The wireless service provider 240 also maymaintain some contact information about contacts with whom the user hascommunicated using the mobile phone 230. In an embodiment, the wirelessservice provider may be one external system 120, the desktop computer220 may be one user device 110, and the mobile phone 230 may be anotheruser device 110. The wireless service provider 240 may communicate,through APIs or other communication interfaces, with the socialnetworking system 130 and exchange contact information with the socialnetworking system 130.

The user may choose to log in to the wireless service provider 240 andinitiate the transfer of contact information from the wireless serviceprovider 240 to the social networking system 130 using the mobile phone230. The user may scan with the mobile phone 230 a QR code presented bythe social networking system 130 on the desktop computer 220 to access alog in page. Credentials for log in with the mobile phone 230 may bemore easily remembered or entered as compared to credentials for log inwith the desktop computer 220. In this regard, credentials for log inwith the desktop computer 220 may require the provision by the user of,for example, both a user ID and a password. In contrast, credentials forlog in with the mobile phone 230 may require the provision by the userof only a PIN. With respect to log in involving the mobile phone 230,the user be required to provide only a PIN because the identification ofthe mobile phone 230 may be automatically provided to the wirelessservice provider 240 as a requirement of a communications protocolgoverning communications between the mobile phone 230 and the wirelessservice provider 240. Thus, because a user may log in to the wirelessservice provider 240 by providing the PIN alone, the user, as a matterof convenience or efficiency, may opt to initiate contact importing fromthe wireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130with the mobile phone 230. The user may choose to log in to the wirelessservice provider 240 using the mobile phone 230 for other reasonsrelated to, for example, convenience, habit, etc.

The contact importing module 148 of the social networking system 130 mayinclude a status monitoring module 202, a QR code module 204, areceiving and synchronization module 206, a friend request module 208,and a notification module 210. The modules of the contact importingmodule 148 are exemplary, and may be variously combined into fewermodules or separated into additional modules. In an embodiment, thedescribed functionality of the modules may be performed by other modulesof the social networking system 130 apart from the contact importingmodule 148.

The notification module 210 interacts with the status monitoring module202, the QR code module 204, the receiving and synchronization module206, and the friend request module 208. The notification module 210manages and provides notifications for the user to inform the user aboutinformation relevant to the importation of contact information from thewireless service provider 240. For example, the notification module 210may create notices for the user about the status of the contactimportation process and information regarding each step in the process.

The status monitoring module 202 may track the status of contactimporting. Each step in the contact importation process may be trackedand presented for the user to keep the user apprised of progress. Thesteps may include, for example, providing a web page to the desktopcomputer 220 to allow the user to initiate importing of contactinformation from the wireless service provider 240, providing a QR codeto the user, scanning the QR code with the mobile phone 230 to accessthe wireless service provider 240, using the mobile phone 230 to log inwith the wireless service provider 240, importing and synchronizingcontact information from the wireless service provider 240 to the socialnetworking system 130, and requesting new contacts to become connectedwith the user in her social network. Based on tracking of the status ofthe contact importing, the status monitoring module 202 may prompt theuser to provide appropriate information and take appropriate action inthe contact importing process.

The QR code module 204 may generate a QR code for scanning with themobile phone 230 of the user. In an embodiment, the QR code may beunique to the user. The QR code may correspond to a URL that may have anembedded reference identifying the user to the wireless service provider240. When scanned by the mobile phone 230 of the user, the QR code maytake the user to a page of the wireless service provider 240 that allowsthe user to log in to the wireless service provider 240 by providingappropriate credentials, such as a PIN.

The receiving and synchronization module 206 receives contactinformation maintained by the wireless service provider 240 andsynchronizes the contact information already maintained by the socialnetworking system 130. The contact information maintained by thewireless service provider 240 may be provided to the social networkingsystem 130 after successful log in by the user to her account with thewireless service provider 240. The contact information received by thesocial networking system 130 may be compared with the contactinformation already maintained by it to identify new contactinformation. The new contact information may include the identity of newpersons or entities associated with the user. The contact informationmaintained by the social networking system 130 may be updated with thenew contact information.

The friend request module 208 may prepare requests to new contacts ofthe user to invite them to join the social network of the user. The newcontacts may be determined from the new contact information. The friendrequest module 208 may identify all of the new contacts of the user,both persons and other entities, and invite the user to select amongthem. The new contacts selected by the user may be provided with aninvitation to join the social network of the user.

FIG. 3 is an example process for importing contact information from thewireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. At block 302, aninvitation is provided for a user to import contact information from thewireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130. Thesocial networking system 130 may provide a web page to the desktopcomputer 220 allowing the user to initiate importing of contactinformation from the wireless service provider 240. To import contactinformation from the wireless service provider 240, the socialnetworking system 130 first may request that the user log in to thewireless service provider 240. To log in to the wireless serviceprovider 240, the social networking system 130 may provide an option forthe user to log in using the desktop computer 220 or the mobile phone230.

At block 304, a request from the user is received to import the contactinformation using the mobile phone 230.

At block 306, a QR code associated with the social networking system 130is provided for the user. The QR code may be associated with a URL ofthe social networking system 130 that directs the user to a log in pageof the wireless service provider 240. After the user scans the QR codewith the mobile phone 230, the user may be automatically logged in tothe social networking system 130 on the mobile phone 230, whether or notthe mobile phone 230 was logged in before the scan. A token may beembedded in the QR code to allow the log in without provision of apassword. The social networking system 130 may also provide anotification to the user about the automatic log in. After log in to thesocial networking system 130, the user is automatically redirected to alog in page of the wireless service provider 240. In an embodiment,after the QR code is scanned, the user may not be presented with a pageof the social networking system 130 before presentation of the log inpage of the wireless service provider 240. The QR code may be uniquelyassociated with the user.

At block 308, an indication that the QR code has been successfullyscanned is provided for the user. Upon scanning of the QR code, thesocial networking system 130 may provide for the desktop computer 220 anindication that the QR code has been scanned. The social networkingsystem 130 then may provide a request for the user to log in with thewireless service provider 240. In an embodiment, the social networkingsystem 130 may choose whether to notify the wireless service provider240 that the user has accessed the log in page of the wireless serviceprovider 240 by scanning the QR code.

After the user scans the QR code, the wireless service provider 240 mayprovide to the mobile phone 230 a request for the user to log in to thewireless service provider 240. In response to the request, the user mayenter her PIN number or other credential. After the PIN number of theuser is entered and provided to the wireless service provider 240, thewireless service provider 240 may authenticate the user.

At block 310, an indication that the user has logged in to the wirelessservice provider 240 is received from the wireless service provider 240.

At block 312, the contact information from the wireless service provider240 is received. The provision of contact information maintained by thewireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130 may beautomatic upon log in by the user without the need for the user to takeany additional action.

At block 314, the contact information from the wireless service provider240 is synchronized with contact information from the social networkingsystem 130 to identify new contact information. Synchronization mayinclude comparing and identifying differences between the contactinformation maintained by the wireless service provider 240 and thecontact information already maintained by the social networking system130. If the differences indicate that the contact information maintainedby the social networking system 130 in part or in whole is incomplete orout of date, then the new contact information relating to thedifferences may be used to update the contact information maintained bythe social networking system 130.

At block 316, the contact information from the social networking system130 is updated with the new contact information. Upon updating, contactinformation maintained by the social networking system 130 is up to dateand complete as to the contact information maintained by the wirelessservice provider 240.

FIG. 4 is an example process for providing invitations to new contactsto join the social network of the user in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. At block 402, a QR code associated with a socialnetworking system 130 is provided for a user. The QR code may beassociated with a URL of the social networking system 130 that directsthe user to a log in page of the wireless service provider 240. The QRcode may be uniquely associated with the user. The QR code may bescanned by user with the mobile phone 230.

At block 404, the contact information from the wireless service provideris received. The provision of contact information maintained by thewireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130 may beautomatic upon log in by the user without the need for the user to takeany additional action.

At block 406, the contact information from the wireless service provider240 is synchronized with contact information from the social networkingsystem 130 to identify new contact information. Synchronization mayinclude comparing and identifying differences between the contactinformation maintained by the wireless service provider 240 and thecontact information already maintained by the social networking system130. If the differences indicate that the contact information maintainedby the social networking system 130 in part or in whole is incomplete orout of date, then the new contact information relating to thedifferences may be used to update the contact information maintained bythe social networking system 130.

At block 408, the contact information from the social networking system130 is updated with the new contact information. Upon updating, contactinformation maintained by the social networking system 130 is up to dateand complete as to the contact information maintained by the wirelessservice provider 240.

At block 410, a request to select new contacts from the new contactinformation is provided for the user. The request may be provided forthe user in a web page that lists the new contacts and allows the userto select contacts therefrom.

At block 412, an indication of selected contacts is received from theuser. The indication of selected contacts may be all, some, or none ofthe new contacts. The indication is a reflection of the desire of theuser to invite certain contacts to join her social network.

At block 414, an invitation to join the social network of the user isprovided for the selected contacts. The invitation may be an email,notice, or other type of communication. The invitation may be providedwithin or outside the social networking system 130. Upon acceptance ofthe invitation, each of the selected contacts may be joined in thesocial network of the user with the social networking system 130.

In an embodiment, the process 300 and the process 400 may be in whole orin part performed by the social networking system 130 or the contactimporting module 148.

FIGS. 5A-5G illustrate example notices that may be provided for a userto import contact information from the wireless service provider 240 tothe social networking system 130 in accordance with embodiments of theinvention. FIG. 5A illustrates an example notice 510 for a user on herdesktop computer to invite the user to import contact information fromthe wireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130.The notice 510 may be provided as a web page by the social networkingsystem 130. The notice 510 includes a progress bar 512 that includesdifferent steps in a sequence to import contact information from thewireless service provider 240 to the social networking system 130. Asshown, the steps include three exemplary steps through which the socialnetworking system 130 may guide the user. A first step involves findingnew contacts from the contact information maintained by the wirelessservice provider 240. The new contacts may not be included within thecontact information originally maintained by the social networkingsystem 130. A second step involves selecting which of the new contactsare to be added to the social network of the user on the socialnetworking system 130. A third step involves preparing invitations toinvite a selection of the new contacts to join the social network of theuser. The notice 510 provides two methods for the user to log in to thewireless service provider 240 to initiate contact importing. The notice510 includes an invitation or reference, associated with a link 514, forthe user to log in to the wireless service provider 240 using a mobilephone of the user. The notice 510 also includes an invitation orreference, associated with a link 516, for the user to log in to thewireless service provider 240 using a desktop computer of the user.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example notice 520 provided for the user on herdesktop computer after the user selects the link 514 to log in to thewireless service provider 240 using her mobile phone. The notice 520 maybe provided as a web page by the social networking system 130. Thenotice 520 includes a QR code 522 that is associated with the user andgenerated by the social networking system 130. When scanned by themobile phone of the user, the QR code 522 may direct the user to a pageof the wireless service provider 240 that allows the user to log in tothe wireless service provider 240. The notice 520 includes a section 524that provides instructions for the user to scan the QR code 522 and areference to inform the user that the notice 520 may automaticallyupdate to reflect the current status of the contact importing process.The notice 520 includes a section 526 that guides the user in thecontact importing process by instructing the user to take appropriateaction. The section 526 includes a sequence of instructions, includingan instruction for the user to scan the QR code 522, an instruction forthe user to log in to the wireless service provider 240 to initiatecontact importing, and an instruction to review new contact informationafter synchronization and updating of contact information. As shown, thesection 526 includes a signal that the user should scan the QR code 522with her mobile phone.

FIG. 5C illustrates the notice 520 provided for the user on her desktopcomputer after the user has scanned the QR code 522 with her mobilephone. The notice 520 may be provided as a web page by the socialnetworking system 130. The section 526 has been automatically updated toindicate that the user has scanned the QR code 522 with her mobilephone. As shown, the section 526 includes a new signal to instruct theuser to log in to the wireless service provider 240 using the mobilephone. The notice 520 may be provided for the user after the user hasaccessed the URL associated with the QR code 522 and the wirelessservice provider 240 has notified the social networking system 130 ofsuch access.

FIG. 5D illustrates an example notice 530 provided for the user on hermobile phone after the user has scanned the QR code 522. The notice 530may be provided by the wireless service provider 240. The notice 530includes a section 532 that confirms the desire of the user to importcontact information from the wireless service provider 240 to the socialnetworking system 130. The section 532 also instructs the user toprovide her credentials, such as a PIN, to log in. A button 536, whenselected, allows the user to proceed with log in after the provision ofcredentials. A button 538, when selected, terminates the contactimporting process.

FIG. 5E illustrates the notice 520 provided for the user on her desktopcomputer after the user has logged in to the wireless service provider.The notice 520 may be provided as a web page by the social networkingsystem 130. The section 526 has been automatically updated to indicatethat the user has completed both scanning the QR code 522 and logginginto the wireless service provider 240 with her mobile phone. Afterlogging in to the wireless service provider 240, the contact informationmaintained by the wireless service provider 240 may be automaticallyimported to the social networking system 130 to synchronize with contactinformation maintained by the social networking system 130. As shown,the section 526 includes a new signal to instruct the user to review newcontacts that have been identified after importation and synchronizationof the contact information.

FIG. 5F illustrates an example notice 540 provided for the user on hermobile phone after synchronization of the contact information with thewireless service provider 240 and the social networking system 130. Thenotice 540 may be provided by the social networking system 130. Asshown, the notice 540 includes a section 542 that informs the user thattwo new contacts from the contact information maintained by the wirelessservice provider 240 are members of the social networking system 130 andare candidates for addition to the social network of the user. A section544 instructs the user to check her desktop computer to add the newcontacts to her social network on the social networking system 130. Alink 546, when selected, allows a user to use her mobile phone to addthe new contacts to her social network. The functionality may be helpfulif the desktop computer is not used by the user to add the contacts. Thedesktop computer may not be used, for example, if the pages provided bythe social networking system 130 are not updated during contactimportation or synchronization to allow addition of the contacts or ifthe browser running on the desktop computer has been closed.

FIG. 5G illustrates an example notice 550 for a user on her desktopcomputer to proceed to a next step in the sequence to add selected newcontacts to her social network on the social networking system 130. Thenotice 550 may be provided as a web page by the social networking system130. As shown, the progress bar 512 indicates the completion of thefirst step involving the finding of new contacts from the contactinformation maintained by the wireless service provider 240. Theprogress bar 512 indicates the pendency of the second step involvingselection of which of the new contacts are to be added to the socialnetwork of the user on the social networking system 130. The notice 550includes a listing 556 of the new contacts for possible selection by theuser. The user may select any number, or none, of the new contacts toreceive an invitation to join her social network. A button 558, whenselected, causes the social networking system 130 to advance to thethird step involving preparation of invitations to invite the selectednew contacts to join the social network of the user. A button 560, whenselected, terminates the contact importing process. In an embodiment,any of the notices illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5G may be provided by thesocial networking system 130 or the wireless service provider 240.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing processes and features can be implemented by a widevariety of machine and computer system architectures and in a widevariety of network and computing environments. FIG. 6 illustrates anexample of a computer system 600 that may be used to implement one ormore of the computing devices identified above. The computer system 600includes sets of instructions for causing the computer system 600 toperform the processes and features discussed herein. The computer system600 may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the computer system 600 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine or a client machine in a client-server networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. In an embodiment of the invention, the computersystem 600 may be the social networking system 130, the user device 110,the external system 120, or a component thereof. In an embodiment of theinvention, the computer system 600 may be one server among many thatconstitutes all or part of the social networking system 130.

The computer system 600 includes a processor 602, a cache memory 604,and one or more executable modules and drivers, stored on acomputer-readable medium, directed to the processes and featuresdescribed herein. Additionally, the computer system 600 includes a highperformance input/output (I/O) bus 606 and a standard I/O bus 608. Ahost bridge 610 couples the processor 602 to the high performance I/Obus 606, whereas I/O bus bridge 612 couples the two buses 606 and 608 toeach other. A system memory 614 and one or more network interfaces 616couple to the bus 606. The computer system 600 may further include videomemory and a display device coupled to the video memory (not shown).Mass storage 618 and I/O ports 620 couple to the bus 608. The computersystem 600 may optionally include a keyboard and pointing device, adisplay device, or other input/output devices (not shown) coupled to thebus 608. Collectively, these elements are intended to represent a broadcategory of computer hardware systems, including but not limited tocomputer systems based on the x86-compatible processors manufactured byIntel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., and the x86-compatibleprocessors manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., ofSunnyvale, Calif., as well as any other suitable processor.

An operating system manages and controls the operation of the computersystem 600, including the input and output of data to and from softwareapplications (not shown). The operating system provides an interfacebetween the software applications being executed on the system and thehardware components of the system. Any suitable operating system may beused, such as the LINUX Operating System; the Apple Macintosh OperatingSystem, available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.; UNIXoperating systems; Microsoft® Windows® operating systems; BSD operatingsystems; and the like. Other implementations are possible.

The elements of the computer system 600 are described in greater detailbelow. In particular, the network interface 616 provides communicationbetween the computer system 600 and any of a wide range of networks,such as an Ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.3) network, a backplane, etc. Themass storage 618 provides permanent storage for the data and programminginstructions to perform the above-described processes and featuresimplemented by the respective computing systems identified above,whereas the system memory 614 (e.g., DRAM) provides temporary storagefor the data and programming instructions when executed by the processor602. The I/O ports 620 may be one or more serial and/or parallelcommunication ports that provide communication between additionalperipheral devices, which may be coupled to the computer system 600.

The computer system 600 may include a variety of system architectures,and various components of the computer system 600 may be rearranged. Forexample, the cache 604 may be on-chip with processor 602. Alternatively,the cache 604 and the processor 602 may be packed together as a“processor module”, with processor 602 being referred to as the“processor core”. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the invention mayneither require nor include all of the above components. For example,peripheral devices coupled to the standard I/O bus 608 may couple to thehigh performance I/O bus 606. In addition, in some embodiments, only asingle bus may exist, with the components of the computer system 600being coupled to the single bus. Furthermore, the computer system 600may include additional components, such as additional processors,storage devices, or memories.

In general, the processes and features described herein may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module, or series of instructions referredto as “programs”. For example, one or more programs may be used toexecute specific processes described herein. The programs typicallycomprise one or more instructions in various memory and storage devicesin the computer system 600 which, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the computer system 600 to perform operations toexecute the processes and features described herein. The processes andfeatures described herein may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit), or anycombination thereof.

In one implementation, the processes and features described herein areimplemented as a series of executable modules run by the computer system600, individually or collectively in a distributed computingenvironment. The foregoing modules may be realized by hardware,executable modules stored on a computer-readable medium (ormachine-readable medium), or a combination of both. For example, themodules may comprise a plurality or series of instructions to beexecuted by a processor in a hardware system, such as the processor 602.Initially, the series of instructions may be stored on a storage device,such as the mass storage 618. However, the series of instructions can bestored on any suitable computer readable storage medium. Furthermore,the series of instructions need not be stored locally, and could bereceived from a remote storage device, such as a server on a network,via the network interface 616. The instructions are copied from thestorage device, such as the mass storage 618, into the system memory614, and then accessed and executed by processor 602.

Examples of computer readable media include, but are not limited to,recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices;solid state memories; floppy and other removable disks; hard diskdrives; magnetic media; optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-OnlyMemory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs)); other similarnon-transitory (or transitory), tangible (or non-tangible) storagemedium; or any type of medium suitable for storing, encoding, orcarrying a series of instructions for execution by the computer system600 to perform any one or more of the processes and features describedherein.

For purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the description. It will beapparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of thedisclosure can be practiced without these specific details. In someinstances, modules, structures, processes, features, and devices areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.In other instances, functional block diagrams and flow diagrams areshown to represent data and logic flows. The components of blockdiagrams and flow diagrams (e.g., modules, blocks, structures, devices,features, etc.) may be variously combined, separated, removed,reordered, and replaced in a manner other than as expressly describedand depicted herein.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“other embodiments”, “another embodiment”, or the like means that aparticular feature, design, structure, or characteristic described inconnection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment ofthe disclosure. The appearances of, for example, the phrase “in oneembodiment”, “in an embodiment”, or “in another embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutuallyexclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, whether or not there isexpress reference to an “embodiment” or the like, various features aredescribed, which may be variously combined and included in someembodiments but also variously omitted in other embodiments. Similarly,various features are described which may be preferences or requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

The language used herein has been principally selected for readabilityand instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected todelineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is thereforeintended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detaileddescription, but rather by any claims that issue on an application basedhereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the inventionis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of theinvention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising:providing, by a computer system, a reference to a non-mobile computingdevice to allow a log in to an external system by a user using a mobilecomputing device; and receiving, by the computer system, informationfrom the external system after authentication of the user with theexternal system.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer systemis a social networking system.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thereference includes a QR code associated with the user.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising providing an indication for the user toprovide credentials for the log in.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe log in by the user includes provision of a PIN by the user.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the authentication is based on an identifierassociated with the mobile computing device.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising providing a notice for the user to perform the log inwith the mobile computing device.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising providing a progress bar to guide the user through a sequenceassociated with contact importing.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation includes address book information of the user.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the address book information includes contactinformation maintained by the external system.
 11. The method of claim10, further comprising retrieving contact information maintained by thecomputer system.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprisingsynchronizing the contact information maintained by the external systemand the contact information maintained by the computer system.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising identifying new contactinformation including new contacts based on the synchronizing.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising maintaining the new contactinformation in the computer system.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising requesting a selection of the new contacts to be added to asocial network of the user.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising providing invitations to the selection of the new contacts tojoin the social network of the user.
 17. The method of claim 1, whereinthe external system includes a wireless service provider.
 18. The methodof claim 1, wherein the log in by the user to the external system usinga mobile computing device requires fewer credentials than a log in bythe user to the external system using the non-mobile computing device.19. A computer-storage medium storing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed, cause a computer system to perform acomputer-implemented method comprising: providing a reference to anon-mobile computing device to allow a log in to an external system by auser using a mobile computing device; and receiving information from theexternal system after authentication of the user with the externalsystem.
 20. A system comprising: at least one processor; and a memorystoring instructions configured to instruct the at least one processorto perform: providing a reference to a non-mobile computing device toallow a log in to an external system by a user using a mobile computingdevice; and receiving information from the external system afterauthentication of the user with the external system.